Lot comprised of two Indonesian hand-carved dowry boxes, or tongal. From the island of Sumba. Made from local hand-carved wood with incise decoration.

Provenance: Obtained from Artifacts Trading Co, Dearborn, Chicago.

Condition: Commensurate with age. One box with cracks to wood.

Size: 5 1/2 x 7 x 1 1/4 in.

#3537 . 

Sumba, natively also spelt as Humba, Hubba, Suba, or Zuba (in Sumba languages), is an Indonesian island (part of the Lesser Sunda Archipelago group) located in the Eastern Indonesia and administratively part of the East Nusa Tenggara provincial territory. The island, roughly the same size as Jamaica or Hawaii, is home to nearly 830,000 people, and the ruins of the earliest civilization of the Sumba people dates back to the Chalcolithic era. Megalithic burials were found on the central regions of the island which date to the beginning of the Bronze Age, and these stone-based burial traditions are still kept alive by the Sumba people, an example of “living ancient traditions” that still can be observed by scholars in modern days. Today, the West part of Sumba is inhabited by segmentary societies made of clans and politically autonomous villages, while Sumba North and East are occupied by stratified societies (similar to castes) made of clan confederations and led by a dominant clan from which a “king” (raja) is chosen. Slavery is still practiced in some parts of Sumba, making it a unique feature of the Pacific and Indian areas, although this practice has significantly decreased in the 21st Century. Roughly 30% percent of the population practices the animist Marapu religion, with the remainder being Christian, mostly Dutch Calvinist with a Roman Catholic minority and Sunni Muslims the smallest segment. Sumba is world-famous for ikat textiles, particularly very detailed hand-woven ikat rugs. The process of dyeing and weaving ikat is labor-intensive and one piece can take months to prepare. Many parts of the country continue to observe ancient customs, including the creation of ceremonial tongal wood boxes strung around a woman’s wrist. A golden amulet called a mamuli is crafted and given before marriage to keep inside the box, acting as her dowry. A remarkably progressive aspect of this tradition is that stealing this dowry is considered unforgivable, with the culprit (not the woman) put to death, reflecting the specific gendered norms in Sumba society that value women as property but protect their rights rather than punishing them.

Commensurate with age. One box with cracks to wood.